Villhauer's Farm Blessings: Let The Good Times Roll

With the major Farm jobs complete, we are now just doing little things to improve the farm or get ready for winter. We also had a party Friday night (more on that at the end of this post) to celebrate life and share our blessings with family and friends.

Last week Joe brought some lime from the neighboring farmer who said we could have some. He put it on the floor of the stalls and corn crib.

Dan finished painting the west side of the corn crib.

     We got a bunch of rain Saturday morning (after our party) which continued off and on through Monday night. With it came a drop in temperature and lots of high winds. We even lost power for over 5 hours   on Saturday, delaying my making of this post.....but allowing for a much needed nap.

I drained, rolled up and stowed away 4 of our long hoses, deciding I was not going to water any more this fall.   Dan helped me put an extension cord
                                                      from the garage shed to the chicken

coop. I think we installed it so that the rats and mice can't chew the cord this time.

Notice Dan had lots of good "help". The chickens were like... "Whoo Hoo...Let the good times roll" They love fresh dug dirt to scratch in and pick through.

Even though the temperature dropped after the rain, the grass has greened up, grown taller, and filled in more. The pasture and yard are looking fairly good. We did get frost one night....so things are going to go dormant soon.

The mums and this pretty flowering shrub had one last burst of color. I hope they can stay beautiful through the fall.

We continue to move Zorro around the different pastures in his little "rope pen". Joe had moved it to the middle of the pasture out front because the perimeter was completely eaten down. This worked for awhile, but one day Zorro broke through the rope. He figured out it wasn't hot. Once out with Amiga and in the large open space....he took off running. Britney and I were watching TV when she spotted both horses running together. So, we went out to catch Zorro. Getting Amiga was no problem, but Zorro was flaunting his freedom. He would charge toward me at a gallop, stop within 10 feet, throw his head up and snort, then turn and race away. He too, was
going to let the

good times roll.
I waited until he slowed down, before attempting to catch him. Now we keep the "pen" attached to the perimeter fence which is hot, so the pen rope is hot, which keeps Zorro in. We pen him out in the alfalfa field with out attaching

to the hot ropes, but it is for short periods and he keeps busy eating alfalfa. We let Amiga loose out there now that the new pasture grass is more established. She stays up near the house where the mature and tasty alfalfa is, and where she can be near Zorro.

     Now, about our party.....which was a lot of fun. We didn't have a huge crowd, but the friends who came were quite enjoyable. Mary Cluskey took photos, and since her camera and skills are much better than mine, I asked if she would share her pictures....so I could put my camera away. These are all courtesy of Mary and will give you a taste of our party.

       Let the good times roll.

Bro was an uninvited guest                    It was a full moon night

The drink tub was full And the food a plenty

Zorro's stall was clean And he was ready to go

The Disco Dance Ball And fire pit awaited

We enjoyed sitting around the fire And staring into it.

We made Somores and grilled hot dogs. I liked mine extra crispy dipped in mustard. I had a great time with all of our guests at the party. We have such wonderful friends.

Sunday afternoon a teacher friend came out to see our farm and show her 2 kids farm life on a cloudy windy day. I showed them around and then gave each of them a ride on Amiga. Amiga was a bit confused with having a bit with reigns and a halter with lead rope, but she did fairly well. Laina, Derek and Jayne did great. Here are a few of the pictures Jayne took.

Meeting Floppsie Derek checks out the hay loft